How Should We Watch the Olympics in a Post-Nassar World?

For die-hard sports fans like me, the Olympics is the pinnacle of broadcast sporting events: Two weeks of watching the best athletes in the world compete against one another for what represents the ultimate athletic achievement—an Olympic gold medal. I live for the personal tales of struggle and sacrifice, carefully packaged together by NBC to tug at our heartstrings, and unabashedly tear up every time the Star-Spangled Banner plays as a champion takes the podium. And that sentiment is in no way mine alone.

The Olympics represent a (increasingly rare) moment where we can feel united as a nation, screaming our hearts out from the couch about sports we might not even have followed before. (Curling, anyone?) The experience of the Games is one of collective pride—and sometimes shared heartbreak. Even if you've never played a sport in your life, you can imagine how you would feel in that moment, wearing that medal. We feel that the athletes are ours. For the length of the Olympiad, they are part of our family.

But this year's Winter Olympics come with some emotional baggage, even for the most casual sports fan. We're now living in a post–Larry Nassar world—one where we've been exposed to the dark underbelly of one particular athletic system that is now undergoing a massive reckoning. Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics doctor has now been convicted on multiple counts of criminal sexual misconduct, and will spend the rest of his life in jail. As part of his sentencing process, America bore witness to hundreds of survivors who came forward to share their stories. I personally spent hours upon hours watching their testimonies and weeping as research for our Glamour story. I know that I am forever changed. Aren’t we all? And how can America not be forced to reckon with that experience in the context of a new procession of Olympic hopefuls?

Even hearing words Olympic doctor or Olympic trainer make me cringe a bit. I watch sideline hugs from coaches or rubdowns from trainers in a different light. Are these routine and OK, or signs of something we've ignored for too long? I even think back to Kerri Strug's now iconic vault at the 1996 Olympics, which clinched the team’s gold medal, and feel guilty for celebrating her for performing while injured, carried off by coach Bela Karolyi. [It should be noted that Strug has not been connected with the Larry Nassar case.]

I watch sideline hugs from coaches or rubdowns from trainers in a different light. Are these routine and OK, or signs of something we've ignored?

The fallout from the Nassar story hasn’t exactly been swift—Rachel Denhollander first went public about Nassar in the Indianapolis Star back in 2016, with multiple accusations dating back much further—but it is happening. The board of USA Gymnastics have all resigned, as ordered by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Former Team USA coach John Gedderts is now under investigation.

Even the president of the USOC, Larry Probst finally expressed remorse on the eve of the Olympics, telling the gymnasts, "The Olympic system failed you, and we are so incredibly sorry." Multiple systems failed these young women and many of them, including former Olympians like Aly Raisman, hope that in speaking out, they can stop something like this from ever happening again.

Of course, gymnastics is not featured in the Winter Olympics, but it would be wrong to dismiss all this as a gymnastics-only problem, and that has contributed to a cloud looming over America’s collective experience in watching the Games. Though comparisons may be drawn between gymnastics and figure skating, the truth is any sport can feel a bit tainted by the stink of this terrible saga.

Veteran sportscaster and Walk Swiftly Productions founder Bonnie Bernstein (a former collegiate gymnast herself) says, "It's only human to view the Olympics, and sports in general, through a different lens, post–Larry Nassar and Jerry Sandusky [the former Penn State football coach convicted on multiple counts of sexual abuse.] Some argue sexual misconduct is not a 'sports' thing. Well, it's not just a sports thing, but sports is a perfect breeding ground for predators to groom their victims. So much about these adult-child relationships has to do with authority and trust, especially for athletes competing at the highest levels. And for as masterfully, and for as long as Nassar got away with his hideous behavior, you can't help but wonder if his survivors are not alone."

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Writer and sports fan Ashley Ross hopes there's something good that viewers will take away as they watch the Olympics this year. "I have a positive outlook that the Nassar case was the exception, not the rule, and I think watching women compete in the Winter Games comes with an extra dose of power in light of the Nassar survivor statements," she says. "The fierce bravery and honesty of the Nassar survivors sends a strong message going into the Olympics that female athletes have not only athletic domination but vocal authority to share their stories and truths."

Jessica Morgan, one of the cofounders of the website Go Fug Yourself and a serious Olympics fan, concurs. "I am profoundly sickened and angry about Larry Nassar and all the people who protected him,” she said, “But I think it does women athletes a disservice to allow his abhorrent, disgusting behavior to ruin the sports that they love, and at which they excel."

Some argue sexual misconduct is not a "sports" thing, but sports is a perfect breeding ground for predators to groom their victims.

And if we do a double take from time to time, maybe that's a good thing. Ross says, "I think if we see a male coach hug a young female athlete or a male trainer massaging a woman’s muscles on the side of the rink or mountain, everyone watching will share some cringe-y feelings and questions, but that skepticism is important because it means the gymnasts who came forward sent a message that we should be looking out for our female athletes and be here to listen and believe them if any harassment or assault is happening."

Heather Cocks, Morgan's cofounder at Go Fug Yourself, does worry that the Games may provide an uplifting opportunity to sweep some of this bad news under the rug: "My concern is that because gymnastics is a summer event, it makes it easier for Olympic organizers and team officials to act like it it's a problem that doesn't apply to them because they're in the other season's sports. When in fact they should be making damn sure that every trainer and every medical technician for every discipline is on the up-and-up. This insidious plague of misbehavior and abuse of power could as easily affect 35-year-old skiers who need muscles treated, as it could 15-year-old figure skaters…. I don't think we need to view every hug from every coach with suspicious side-eyes, but I do think the athletes need to be able to trust that the total failure of USA Gymnastics—and other organizations turned a blind eye—is causing all the others to look within."

No matter how complex my feelings, I know that I'll still be tuning in—albeit with a more critical point of view. I’d wager that’s true for most of us. But as Morgan says, "I think it’s human nature to think about this while watching the Olympics…. But in all of this, the athletes themselves are wholly blameless, and I refuse to allow Nassar and his disgusting ilk to ruin women’s sports for us as a whole. Hasn’t he done enough?”